Very often we feel we are not doing enough or we don’t have enough. There’s always a reason for one more pair of shoes, handbag, face cream, t-shirt, bathroom cleaner, gadget and to keep that ticket from a party we went to 15 years ago and just want to keep it as a memory.

If you are like me, you might have done one of these – I kept high heels in the cupboard – that were given to me by a friend to sell at the car boot sale, but they were so pretty and in good condition, I never sold them and never even wore them. My excuse to keep hold of them was to give them to my nieces to wear when they would grow up!! Whattttt ???? They were not even 10 years old at that time !!!!! What was I thinking !!!

I’ve had this old pattern of holding on to the past, I like grandma things rather than modern things, I like the old style, used things rather than bling, shiny new stuff. I had a natural inclination to hold on to objects for memories.

Definitely had some attachment issues, but I am glad that I am over it and feeling great about not holding on to things and feeling that I could pack everything I own into a travel luggage ….. love the feeling of being light and free 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️

These feelings are feelings that we all want and strive for, but very often we create stories around “why” we can be free and light. This happens also during our yoga practice when we create physical limitations in our heads that do not really exist.

Declutter with Yoga

My life has a direct relation between both…… the more I did yoga the less cluttered I became in my body, in my head and in my home. The poses that always made me feel open and free were backbends, the opening of the heart.

Unconsciously as I was progressing in my practice and doing more and more backbends (and these are not just wheels, but adding also a mini backbend in Sun Salutation/Urdhva Salute and other poses). The opening of the Heart Chakra/ Anahata helped me start to let go of the person I had become as result of consecutive disappointments at myself, forgive myself and letting go of feelings of anger towards me and others.

The opening of the Throat Chakra/ Vishuddha is related to self-expression, whilst I didn’t have difficulty in expressing myself but I felt the release of the neck is like a weight taken off my shoulders. I always stored a lot of the stress around neck and shoulders.

If you haven’t started already, start to add little mini backbends into your practice, squeezing the seat bones towards each other so you are creating length in the spine.